Latest Improvisation to be Made in Android Applications By Google

Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are close competitors in the mobile phone market, as each one releases a new update, the competition increases. The war between these mobile platforms seems like the second part of MacOS v/s Windows. Though Android brags a massive number of users, it still stands second when a comparison is drawn with ease. To overcome the loopholes and to make Android have a fair competition with iOS, Google has announced new Mobile App Development guidelines for Android.

Three new changes have been announced by Google, that it will gradually bring out in the years to come. These changes are mainly aimed at creating a secure and robust platform, which will benefit both developers and users.

Let’s have a glance at these changes:

• Target Recent API Level

API plays an important role in the security of the apps. Due to some behavioral changes in the API, Google has targeted the recent API level, that will increase the security and privacy protections of Android.

Google has changed the runtime permission in case of apps with targetSdkVersion 23 of API level or Android 6.0, this will give the user full control over what data or information apps can access with runtime permission. This latest release prevents the apps from using device resources such as memory or battery.

• Requirement Of 64-bit Support

With Android 5.0, was introduced 64-bit architecture. At recent times, approximately 40% of Android devices have 64-bit support, while still being compatible with 32-bit. It is predicted that for future Android devices, the Google Play will require the applications to have 64-bit version along with 32-bit version.

This change can be incorporated either in several APKs or in single APK.

• Metadata For Security

Google has decided to add small metadata on the top of each APK. This step is taken to verify that the APK is been distributed officially by Google Play. It indicated authenticity. This security metadata to the APK is similar to the authenticity badge of Google Play, for any Android application.

This security metadata addition in the APK will open up new distribution opportunities for the developers.

It becomes vital for Google to enhance the mobile app development, mainly in two factors, i.e.; performance and security, as there is a constant increase noticed in the number of Android applications.